In the end, the debate about installing a 23-and-under age limit for the Olympics is about money. It will get framed other ways, but it’s always about money. NBA owners don’t want “their” players wearing themselves down and risking injury in a summer tournament — unless they are getting a piece of the profits, of course.

With David Stern as their front man, the owners will push for it in the coming years. But former NBA owner and current USA Basketball president Jerry Colangelo opposes the idea.

What the NBA owners want to see is something more like the soccer model, where the World Cup is the big stage and Olympics is an under-23 event (with each team getting three players over that age limit). What the owners really want is a partnership with FIBA so that they would get a piece of this World Cup of basketball. (Mark Cuban wants the NBA to just start its own international event.)

The players, if they choose, can control this discussion. Because if they don’t show up for this World Cup it will flop. The elite players are the commodity and if they unify on wanting to go to the Olympics and not another event, they will get their way.

And in their ear the entire time will be Nike and Adidas — the Olympics are a huge marketing platform for these companies and they want their hoops stars on that stage.

It’s going to be a topic for the next few years. Now we know where Colagelo stands.

Kevin Love has been under fire the past two weeks. He struggled in exhibition play, and his role on Team USA was questioned. He was supposed to be the other big to help Team USA with a roster that has almost no size. There was talk of him slipping out of the rotation almost entirely. But against France with a more rugged but overall shorter lineup and in need of someone to put the ball in the basket, Love stepped up, stepped out, and burned the doghouse down.

Love finished with 14 points in 14:18 of play, and helped Team USA to a 98-71 win over France Sunday. Love was tipping in shots, nailing jumpers, and cutting to the basket. He seemed much more at ease than in previous games with Team USA and he really helped jump-start the offense in the third quarter after Team USA only lead by single digits at the half. Love finished with seven points in the third and Team USA broke the game open, and never looked back.

It’s a sign of Team USA’s depth. When some of their players don’t play as well, like Carmelo Anthony who had a rough game Sunday, they have guys to step up. Chris Paul had arguably been the weakest of the guards in exhibition play, and he was electric, while Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook struggled. James Harden made plays. There always seems to be someone ready to step up and make the plays necessary. This team may not have the depth of the Dream Team, but it’s impossible to say that they’re not an incredible collection of players with an answer to a million questions that can be asked of them.

And it’s a testament to Coach K’s flexibility that he not only put Love on the floor with the game still within reach, but put him in a position to put his struggles on this team behind him. With every game, Team USA seems to get more confident not only in each other, but with their own roles on this team. And with France one of the tougher teams they’ll face in group play, it was just the kind of start Team USA needed: an early struggle, responded to with depth, versatility, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and a total effort to put away the French and leave the game beyond any doubt.

Even in a game where they didn’t play their best, Team USA looks ready.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving will have a busy July representing team and country in Las Vegas.

The presumptive NBA Rookie of the Year not only will lead the Cavs’ summer-league squad, but also help prepare the U.S. Olympic basketball club as it readies for the Summer Olympics in London.

USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo confirmed that Irving will receive an invite to participate on the U.S. Select Team, which acts as a sparring partner for the Olympic team and serves as a pool of talent from which future international sides will be drawn.

Irving averaged 18.5 points and 5.4 assists in his rookie campaign, and shot an impressive 46.9%/39.9% from the field and the 3-point line. Irving, who was born in Australia, will not play for Australia’s Olympic team, because he hopes to represent Team USA in future Olympics and World Championships.

Wall, the 2010 #1 pick, averaged 16.3 points and 8.0 assists last season, but his liability of a jumper is still holding him back, as he shot just 42.3% from the field and an abysmal 0.071% from beyond the 3-point line.

Even with Derrick Rose out for the Olympics with a torn ACL, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, and Chris Paul will likely keep both Wall and Irving from making this summer’s Olympic roster, but there’s a good chance one or both of them will make the 2016 team if they keep working on their games.

This summer, the United States will send it’s best 12 best basketball players to London to represent our nation in the Olympic Games.

Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban hates the idea, and he’s not alone. This summer will be the 20th anniversary of the original Dream Team and for some the bloom is off the rose. The thrill of seeing our best destroy most countries — but have interesting games with a few other powers like Spain — has worn off.

So what if international basketball decided to do what soccer does and turn the Olympics into an under-23 tournament?

“My own view is that post-London, we should be thinking about what soccer does and make it 23 and under,” Stern said.

Soccer of course has the World Cup — a battle of nations where there is no restrictions, and it is an event far bigger than the Olympic soccer. International basketball under FIBA has a similar tournament , the World Championships, which the United States won in Turkey in 2010 behind Kevin Durant (that win earned the USA its Olympic berth). If the Olympics were under 23, the world championship would grow in stature.

The United States could field a quality team. Here is a rough sketch of what the Under 23 Team USA might look like:

I kind of like this idea. But it’s something that the rest of the world would have to agree to, and it’s also something that Nike, Adidas and other shoe and apparel manufacturers may not love as they enjoy having their biggest stars on a huge international stage like the Olympics.

Doing this would mean a guy like Derrick Rose would never win a medal (he’s injured for London and will be 27 next Olympics). But it might be something worth trying in Rio to see how it works. I like the idea of the world’s best young players going at it with something real on the line.

In a purely business sense, you can argue that guys from the USA Basketball team deserve a cut of the money they earn USA Basketball — they do generate a lot of money in jersey sales and they help drive some big ticket events.

But it’s a public relations disaster to ask for the money. As our Ira Winderman explained, it looks bad for multi-millionaire Dwyane Wade to say he should be paid for his time while he stands in the Opening Ceremonies next to a kayaker or wrestler or women’s field hockey player who also dedicated their lives to the sport, to reach this moment, and they make just enough to get by.

Speaking with the USA Today, USA Basketball Chairman Jerry Colangelo explained why the hoopsters only get their stipend and nothing more.

“All of the money that is generated from our participation and the competitions the senior teams participate in in effect subsidizes and pays for the entire U.S. Olympic (basketball) programs and that includes all of the junior programs where most of these players came from,” Colangelo said. “Most of them all started there, men and women.”

“When I took over the program in 2005, they were in a terrible losing situation financially,” Colangelo said. “During the next four years, I quadrupled the revenue, but that only brought us to break even. That covers all of the expenses for the men, women, boys and girls, all the way down. We sell sponsorship, sell tickets to exhibition games.”

Basically, you are doing all this to keep USA Basketball going.

No matter what they think personally, you can bet no USA hoops player is going to say anything but they are happy to be there the rest of the way. These guys understand public relations, too.